SAN FRANCISCO, April 19, 2012 - The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today said it will allow Virtual Net Metering (VNM) to apply to all multi-tenant and multi-meter properties, with the limitation that sharing of bill credits can only occur for accounts served by a single service delivery point.

VNM allows multi-tenant and multi-meter properties to install a single Net Energy Metered distributed generation system to cover the electricity load of both common area and tenant meters, thereby avoiding the need to connect individual distributed generation systems to each meter, which is often cost-prohibitive and/or technically impossible.

The CPUC's expansion of VNM is a significant development in the growing market for distributed generation, promoting the benefits of Net Energy Metering to all multi-tenant and multi-meter properties. Today's decision is a critical step forward that signals to the public and to the retail solar development community that these expanded VNM tariffs are soon to be available. Most importantly, VNM extends Net Energy Metering benefits to renters or condominium owners who previously could not participate in this program.